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As a return visit to Wrigley Field nears, former Chicago Cubs OF Jason Heyward embraces a new opportunity with the LA Dodgers

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

Seven months ago, Jason Heyward was unsure of the next step.He openly wondered if his impending offseason release from the Chicago Cubs might mean the end of his playing career. The Los Angeles Dodgers provided the ideal environment, however, and most importantly a clear path to making a big-league roster.Heyward’s fresh start in LA has been accompanied by a powerful first impression. While the contact issues still exist, three of the 33-year-old’s four hits have been home runs. It already exceeds his home-run total last season with the Cubs when he recorded one in 151 plate appearances. Heyward hasn’t produced a double-digit home-run season since 2019.Heyward nearly slugged his fourth of the season Saturday night against his old team, but Cody Bellinger, in the comfort of his old home, tracked the ball perfectly to snag it on a leaping catch at the center-field wall to rob him of a two-run home run in the second inning.“I thought it was a homer off the bat t...

Fishermen at Japan PM attack acted fast to swarm suspect

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

WAKAYAMA, Japan (AP) — As soon as Tsutomu Konishi noticed an object that flew over his head and landed near Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at a campaign event at this fishing port, he and a group of other fishermen swarmed the man who officials later identified as a suspect in the attack. As a security officer covered the object with a bullet proof briefcase, one of the fishermen grabbed the man’s neck from behind, another pushed his head down, and Konishi latched onto his leg. They were holding the man as police officers pulled him to the ground. A few moments later Saturday there was an explosion, the crowd fleeing in panic as officers dragged away the suspect, a man wearing a silver backpack. The team effort by the fishermen in this close-knit community has created a buzz on Japan’s social media, prompting many to wonder if they were plainclothes police officers. Senior members of the fishing community say they and police had fully prepared to welcome the prime minister...

In Tennessee, expulsions echo a decades-old protest movement

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Squint a little as you take in the scene, or just close your eyes and listen to the voice, and 2023 stumbles back into another era. Another Memphis.“You can’t expel hope!” the young man cries in his powerful voice, his message aimed at the Tennessee state legislators who had expelled him and another Black lawmaker a week earlier. “You can’t expel justice! You can’t expel our voice.”Justin Pearson wears a dark suit in the county meeting room, a carefully knotted blue tie and glasses that bring Malcolm X to mind. He speaks in the rolling cadence of generations of Black preachers.He ends by quoting a Bible verse beloved by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., vowing to fight “until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”Then he turns to his cheering supporters and thrusts his fist into the air.The two Black Democratic legislators ousted by the overwhelmingly white, Republican-controlled state Legislature — then reinstated by local...

Inmate stuck on US death row despite vacated death sentence

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

CHICAGO (AP) — When the U.S. prisons director visited the penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, this past week, she stopped by the federal death row where Bruce Webster is in a solitary, 12-by-7 foot cell, 23 hours a day. Webster’s not supposed to be there. A federal judge in Indiana ruled in 2019 that the 49-year-old has an IQ in the range of severe intellectual disability and so cannot be put to death. But four years on, the Justice Department and the Federal Bureau of Prisons haven’t moved him to a less restrictive unit or different prison.Why? His own lawyer, who secured a rare legal win in persuading a court to vacate Webster’s 1996 death sentence in the kidnapping, rape and killing of a 16-year-old Texas girl, says she’s baffled.“How can I not get this guy off death row?,” an exasperated Monica Foster said in a recent interview. “Well, I did get him off death row. But why can’t I physically get him off death row?”Asked about Webster’s continued placement on death r...

Pope slams ‘insinuations’ against John Paul II as baseless

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday publicly defended St. John Paul II, condemning as “offensive and baseless” insinuations that recently surfaced about the late pontiff.In remarks to tourists and pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, Francis said he was aiming to interpret the feelings of the faithful worldwide by expressing gratitude to the Polish pontiff’s memory. Days earlier, the Vatican’s media apparatus had described as “slanderous” an audiotape from a purported Roman mobster who insinuated that John Paul would go out looking for underage girls to molest. The tape was played on an Italian TV program by Pietro Orlandi, brother of Emanuela Orlandi, the teenage daughter of a Vatican employee who lived at the Vatican. The disappearance of the 15-year-old in 1983 is an enduring mystery that has spawned countless theories and so far fruitless investigations in the decades since.Francis noted that in Sunday’s crowd in the square were pilgrims and other faithful in town to pray ...

Temps plunge, snow possible

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

The beautiful weather the Chicago area has experienced lately is coming to a crashing halt.Sunday will see rain at times with increasing wind and falling temps. Interactive Radar: Track showers and storm here The area will see temps plunge nearly 10 degrees Sunday afternoon with a lunchtime temp of 48 degrees and a dinnertime temp of 41 degrees.Rain showers and even snow showers with colder weather overnight. Light accumulating snow possible near dawn in far northwest Chicagoland. Low 33 in the city, colder inland.Full forecast details at the WGN Weather CenterMonday will be windy and mostly cloudy. Light snow is possible at times in the morning with a chance of rain in the afternoon. High 41.Extended outlook calls for a return to sunshine and seasonal temps on Tuesday. More clouds for Wednesday and Thursday with each day having a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Temps back in the low 60s on Wednesday and near 70 on Thursday.

2 dead, person in custody, after dispute on South Side

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

CHICAGO — Chicago police are investigating a domestic dispute that ended in the death of two people, in two different locations on the city's South Side. According to police, a 55-year-old man walked into a home in the 8300 block of South Luella and shot a man in the head.The 55-year-old then chased a 26-year-old woman to the 8200 block of South Paxton where police say she was struck in the head with a blunt object. The woman was pronounced dead at the scene. Up Next: 2 teens shot in the Loop during large disturbance Responding officers placed the 55-year-old into custody.

Sunshine and mild air for your Sunday

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Today will be just about perfect with sunshine, mild temperatures and low humidity. Breezy northeast winds will gust during the day as high as 15 to 25 mph.Gusty northeast winds this morning through 3 p.m.Saturday's high at Camp Mabry was 94°. That tied the record first set in 1924. Today's highs will be cooler because of the northeast breeze left behind by the cold front that came in Saturday afternoon/evening.Afternoon highs a little cooler than the normal of 80° El Niño watch issued: Here’s what that means Tomorrow will be partly cloudy with most highs in the upper 70s to low 80s.Rain and thunderstorms return Tuesday afternoon to Friday with a series of weather disturbances passing in the upper flow aloft. Updated predicted rain totals Tuesday to FridayA cold front arrives Friday morning/afternoon leaving drier air for Saturday under a partly cloudy sky. The early forecast for April 22 includes no rain.FIRST WARNING WEATHER: Stay up to date with your Central Te...

PHOTOS: Hummingbirds take flight in Texas

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- As springtime continues in Central Texas, a KXAN viewer captured one of only a handful of hummingbird species to grace us with its presence in the Lone Star State.While there are more than 300 species of the hummingbird globally, only 18 are traditionally spotted in the United States, per the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department. Of those 18 species, nine are commonplace here in Texas, with the most common including the Ruby-throated hummingbird and Black-chinned hummingbird.While there are more than 300 species of hummingbirds, only 18 are found in the United States. A KXAN viewer captured some in their backyard in April. (KXAN Viewer Photo)While there are more than 300 species of hummingbirds, only 18 are found in the United States. A KXAN viewer captured some in their backyard in April. (KXAN Viewer Photo)What it lacks in size, the hummingbird makes up for in sheer power. Hummingbirds can rev their speed from a standstill to 60 miles per hour in just three feet,...

4 tidbits from Colorado’s proposed $38.5 billion budget

Published Fri, 27 Dec 2024 11:51:19 GMT

Colorado lawmakers have sent their annual budget bill to Gov. Jared Polis, which will dictate state spending for the next fiscal year and ripple out for years to come.The roughly $38.5 billion spending proposal — which includes a $1.2 billion increase to the general fund —  funds the state government’s operations and programs. Lawmakers on the Joint Budget Committee, which drafts the document and ushers it through the General Assembly, characterized their effort largely as a “year of implementation” after a downpour of federal money that helped buoy efforts on things like the environment, education and affordable housing.“We’re delivering for Colorado families by making record investments in K-12 education, supporting our health care workers, and creating safer communities — all while keeping our state on solid financial footing,” state Sen. Rachel Zenzinger, a Democrat and chair of the committee, said in a statement. “We’ve work...